Flooded rivers and cities put China’s disaster response systems to the test

BEIJING, Aug 3 (Reuters) – From dangerous discharge from swollen rivers to residents trapped in flooded cities, China’s disaster response systems are being put to the test, with record-breaking rains that could take weeks to recede after one of the strongest storms in years.

In the wake of Typhoon Doksuri, which landed in southern China on Friday, extreme rain has hit the north, smashing a 140-year rainfall record in Beijing and dumping more than a year’s worth of rain on Hebei, a populous province.

As the remnants of the typhoon move toward China’s northeast border provinces and the rains begin to subside, a region the size of Britain is grappling with the logistics of safely discharging waterways and reservoirs and rescuing dozens of thousands trapped in their homes.

The Hai River basin, where five rivers converge in north China, is undergoing a “flood evolution process” and flood control engineering systems are experiencing the “most severe test” since the 1996 floods, state media reported on Thursday.

In the summer of 1996, large-scale flooding in the Yangtze River Basin in central China killed an estimated 2,800 people, damaged millions of homes, and inundated large tracts of farmland.

Hebei authorities raised the level of emergency response to natural disasters from III to II, while Beijing maintained a warning for landslides on its outskirts.

Floods could take up to a month to recede in Hebei, where Zhuozhou is the the hardest blow city, a water resources department official told state media on Thursday. So far, some 100,000 people in the city southwest of Beijing have been evacuated, or a sixth of its population.

China has long been aware of the risks of urban waterlogging, with rapid urbanization in recent years creating metropolitan sprawl that blanketed floodplains with concrete. Extreme weather driven by global warming is making it worse.

Official data shows that about 98% of China’s 654 major cities are prone to flooding and waterlogging. Rainfall in northeastern provinces could increase by up to 50% in August, China’s national meteorologist said on Thursday.

“Is there no way to discharge the water now? The water is not receding, and the rescue efficiency is too low,” a netizen said on China’s popular Weibo microblog, alarmed that some places in Zhuozhou are 6 meters (20 feet). ) underwater.

“The six meters of water is not a problem of heavy rain at all, but a problem of flood discharge.”

LOGISTICS NIGHTMARE

One badly affected area in Zhuozhou was Matou Township, where roads turned into rivers, power and drinking water supplies were cut off, mobile phone signals were lost and residents were trapped in their homes.

In their rubber rafts and boats, rescuers traversed the flooded streets of Matou, securing residents trapped in high-rise buildings. Where the water was knee-deep, residents were transported to safety on large forklifts, according to China’s state broadcaster.

But the rescue efforts have been difficult.

Local government and emergency management officials have stopped accepting new rescue teams from elsewhere, state-backed media reported, citing blocked roads and a lack of unified coordination as factors raising security concerns.

State media said rescuers from across China have been requesting help in Zhuozhou flood relief, but some have not received approval from local officials, a prerequisite for their operations on the ground.

China faces stormier weather with Typhoon Khanun currently circling over the East China Sea toward Japan, and is forecast to approach the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian on Friday.

Reporting by Liz Lee, Ryan Woo, Ethan Wang and Shanghai Newsroom; Edited by Stephen Coates

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.